Sally Santellano

Principal

ssantellano@johndls.org

Principal Santellano's passion for education began when she was a volunteer in Kingston Jamaica through the Passionist Volunteers International Program. Through this program she spent a year supporting families in the Kingston community. There she witnessed the transformative power of education and committed herself to the profession of teaching. She joins the St. John de la Salle community after holding various teaching and leadership positions for 13 years in the Diocese of Gary. In 2005, Mrs. Santellano was honored with the Teacher of Excellence Award in East Chicago and  in 2017 she received Most Inspiring Teacher Award in Hammond. When she is not at school, Principal Santellano likes to play basketball, swim, sing  and spend quality time with her loving husband and three kids.

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Fr. Kiiguta

Pastor

Father Kiiguta has been the pastor at St. John de la Salle for 7 years. Father has a passion for education from Chicago to the school he started in his hometown in Tanzania.

Denise King

Preschool Instructor

     Denise King has taught for over 35 years and 33 years in Chicago Public Schools. She's taught Pre-K to first grade over her teaching career. Pre-K is her first love! She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education and a Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She is considered as a "Highly Qualified" teacher by the State of Illinois. In 2016, she retired from full time teaching in CPS but became a city wide consultant for CPS’s Early Childhood Department. As a consultant, she went to schools all over the city of Chicago to assist teachers in their curriculum, to observe them and to make sure the class environment was safe and healthy for pre-school children.

Keyaria Whitney

Preschool Instructional Assistant

and Before Care Coordinator

Ms. Whitney has been the Preschool aide at SJDLS for 3 years. She has also been the After-Care supervisor, substitute teacher, and goes wherever she is needed! Ms. Whitney has agreed to be the new Cheerleading Coach. In her spare time, Ms. Whitney likes to do hair, and volunteers her time to help the community. Ms. Whitney is an aunt to many nieces and nephews who she loves to spend time with. She enjoys playing games and working with young people.

Mary Pat Bertrand

Kindergarten

Mrs. Bertrand is our Kindergarten teacher. She came to us in 2016 after the closing of St. Florian. She has 29 years of Archdiocesan experience in Pre-K and K and we value her expertise! Mrs. Bertrand has 2 adult daughters who are proud graduates of Catholic schools, and one new grandson, born in August.

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Learn more about Mary Pat.

Constance Hudson

Kindergarten Instructional Assistant, After Care Coordinator

 

Mrs. Hudson has worked at St. John de la Salle for over 9 years in a variety of roles: Pre-K and Kindergarten Aide, After School Care Coordinator, Substitute Teacher, Before School coordinator, as well as coordinating the Mother-Son and the Father-Daughter dances in the spring! Before her time here, she worked throughout the Archdiocese teaching and assisting. Ms. Hudson can be found all over St. John assisting wherever needed. When asked what she loves most about St. John de la Salle, Mrs. Hudson replied, "Kids- I love all kids!" In her life outside of SJDLS, Mrs. Hudson has 4 grown children and 8 grandchildren.

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Mary Reid

1st and 2nd Grade

 

Mary Reid will be our 1stand 2ndgrade teacher. She has been in the classroom since 2013 in various roles. Her undergraduate degree is in broadcast journalism and creative writing. We know that she will share her passion for writing with our students.

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Christine Aguirre

3rd and 4th Grade

Christine has been working in education since 2013.  Her first teaching position was at St. Joseph school in Homewood, Illinois where she was the fourth grade teacher and also taught fifth grade science. Her students earned the highest scores of all grades in the school that year that took the ASPIRE test. She has three amazing kids in high school and college and in her free time she loves to exercise, visit with family, bake, and read. Ms. Aguirre and Tech teacher Mr. Ivy coach the Robotics team on Fridays. 

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Learn more about Christine.

Damani McClellan

 5th-6th Science and History

Mr. McClellan is a graduate of Roosevelt University, with a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Biology. Before entering the education field, he worked in clinical research, examining chronic illnesses. Mr. McClellan joins us from teaching at Marya Yates Elementary school in the south suburbs and is excited to teach science and history to our 5th and 6th grade scholars.

Christina Laucello

7th Grade Homeroom, 5th-8th English and Language Arts

Ms. Laucello is an adjunct professor at Truman College for English and taught English and Theology at Holy Cross Academy in Oneida, New York.

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Daniel Fleming

5th-8th Math 

Mr. Fleming has been an educator of Catholic students primarily since 1997.  He has been both an administrator as well as a junior high Math teacher for all those years.  Mr. Fleming grew up in Hazel Crest, and attended Brother Rice High School.  He earned his undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and his Masters Degree from Governors State University.  

Mr. Fleming and his wife Mary Kay, also a Catholic school educator, have been married 16 years.  They have 2 boys, Kevin, age 15, and Matthew, age 13.

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Señora Ortega

Spanish

Senora spends the summer working with children in need in her native Ecuador. Senora is working to teach all of our students Spanish in grades PK-8, as well as starting an after-school Spanish Club.

Rochelle Tucker

Physical Education Teacher

Rochelle is a graduate of Lewis University, with  a B.S. degree in Biology and a minor in physical Education. Her career started at the University of Illinois Chicago in animal research Hematology, in Sickle Cell Anemia. She is excited to return to education and is teaching junior high science and physical education. Her interests and hobbies are sports, yoga and health wellness and she loves animals. 

Ina Roberson

Music Teacher

Ina is a graduate of Chicago State University. She has been teaching for 35 years in public and private schools. Additionally, she has served as ministry of music in churches throughout Chicago. She is a pastor's daughter and is married with two daughters and three grandchildren.